Love Comes as a Shock
by Ommy
Summary: A season 4 short story done in Izumi's POV. Orimoto Izumi recounts her time in the Digital World, and discovers that she has fallen in love with the pudgy Shibayama Junpei, holder of the thunder spirit! (JUNZUMI)


Hey, looks like I'm back in the Digimon zone! However, this one is a season four story, so it probably will contain spoilers (ranging between episode 1-14). Read at your own discretion. As you were informed from the summary, this is, in a way, a Junzumi (Junpei/Izumi) and is done in Izumi's P.O.V. I do not think this pairing has been done yet, so I guess that would make me the first (yay). As well, since the season has yet to air in North America, I will stay true to the Japanese terms. After watching a few Frontier episodes, I got inspired to write this. I think the chemistry between Junpei and Izumi is just fascinating. I hope you enjoy this short story of mine.

Disclaimer: Submitted for your approval, a young man who does not own Digimon. He has just entered...the Disclaimer Zone! *ominous laughter*

Dedication: Whoa, I've never really done one of these before. I dedicate this story to Cracker. Why, you may ask? Well Cracker was gracious enough to step beyond the Digimon niche to review my review-less ReBoot story. She didn't have to, nor did I request it. Cracker, I thank you for your time and patience in reading and reviewing my stories. Few people like you exist in this ever-changing world. I just hope this story lives up to your standards. To any other readers, I would suggest checking out her works, as they are even more so excellent pieces of literature. Oh, and Cracker, I am so terribly, TERRIBLY sorry about the picture delay! I mean, I promised this since February! Well I'm sure you know the pressures of your senior year, and the promises/anxieties of post-secondary education. Well I can tell you that I am right in the middle of it. The Matt and Sora (main) piece was easy enough to do, but working in the three couples is somewhat tricky. However, I promise that I will have it done by the end of summer. May Blitzmon strike me down with his Lightning Blitz attack if I break it!

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**Love Comes as a Shock**

He was not the most normal person I had ever met, but I think that was what intrigued me. He was not like the usual brash, spiky-haired kid that saved the day in one of those typical anime programs that you see every Sunday. Personally, I never liked Japanese culture or those silly cartoons. I was almost in tears when my family decided to move back to Japan from our home in Italy. I still do not think I completely forgave them for ripping me from that lovely Mediterranean seaside.

Anyway, even as I stare at him right now, sleeping in the moonlight, I can feel something. It was something that I had felt at first when we came to the Digital World, but at the time it was so faint. Then as we went on with our journey, the feeling only intensified. It's so hard to explain. Could I be falling for him - for...Junpei? Perhaps I should start from the beginning, instead of jumping into the present. That should get my thoughts in order.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

I had gotten into another argument with my parents, so I decided to take a walk to cool down. After about half an hour aimlessly walking through town, my cell phone began to ring. When I checked the screen, a weird message was displayed before me.

_Would you like to start, or not?_

_Yes_

_No_

I was a little puzzled at this, but I accepted to start...whatever it was asking. Life has been ever so boring since I moved back, so I was hoping that this would be interesting. Then this strange voice spoke from the phone.

_Orimoto Izumi-chan, the game to decide your future has started._

She...it knew my name. That scared me a bit. I was confused at what it meant by me choosing my future. A set of instructions followed the message. It asked me to meet a train schedule, so I complied. It all seemed like fun and games. Of course, I knew very little about what I was getting myself into, but I would make the same decision all over again.

When I got to the station, I pulled out my money to pay for a ticket, but before I placed my money in the slot, a ticket popped out. Cautiously, I took the ticket and inspected it. The platform that was stamped on it was one I never heard of. I decided to take the elevator up to the information desk to make an inquiry.

When the elevator doors closed behind me, the elevator started going down, even though I had pressed the button for a higher level. The elevator's pace then quickened greatly. I hung on for dear life. The level indicator showed that we were going beyond the basement floor. This was getting too freaky.

When the elevator stopped, my phone rung again. When I checked the display, the voice spoke up again.

_This is your final decision: Will you ride, or will you return?_

I had never been a coward any time before in my life, so I decided to ride. The elevator doors slid open and before me was a train yard. The place was swarming with kids close to my age. I boarded the closest train and the door closed behind me. Three others boarded the same railcar as me. At first I only saw two. One was a small child wearing a big hat, who I would later learn to be Tomoki. He kept himself huddled in the corner. I felt it best not to disturb him at the time. The other one was Junpei. Takuya came into the actual car we were in when the train started moving.

My first impression of Junpei...well...it could have been better. He just lazily took a seat, dug into one of his pockets, took out a bar of chocolate, and started chomping on it. I was not impressed to say the least. It didn't help that he was not in the best of shape either. When Takuya began the introductions, I would swear that Junpei was trying to put on some sort of charm. I made it clear that I was uninterested, but somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind, I could not help but chuckle. In the following days, Junpei was always the mood maker of the group. You could always count on him to do something clumsy that would make you smile. The train eventually brought us to a station in a strange place that spewed with fire from many orifices. By then our cell phones (the others had phones, too) had been strangely converted into something called a Digivice. Our adventure in the Digital World had begun.

Throughout our journey in the Digital World, we came across many strange creatures who we would soon know as digimon. We were told that, like people, some digimon were good and others were not. Personally, I thought that there were more bad ones than good. According to our new friends, Bokomon and Neemon, the Digital World was going through dark times, as their was an imbalance that threatened to destroy them all. Of course, we were glad to assist in any way we could, thanks to these "spirits".

At first, I was not impressed by any of the boys with me (except for Tomoki, who is too young). Takuya was always bossy and arrogant, Kouji was always aloof and unsocial, and Junpei - he was always eating and trying to charm me. Then when Takuya, Kouji, and Tomoki found their spirits, they became so heroic and selfless. They were true heroes when they donned their spirits. Junpei always seemed to sulk whenever I praised the others. Was he jealous? I wonder...

Now that I think about it, Junpei tried to the best of his ability to defend me and Tomoki from danger, even before he obtained his spirit. I always wonder why Tomoki always referred only to Takuya as onichan. Junpei was more a brother to Tomoki than Takuya ever was.

Then came the day where Junpei received his spirit. Needless to day I was actually impressed. I think it was then and there that I really started to feel something - that there was something more to Junpei that I overlooked.

New villains arose, but they proved too much for us. They were like us in a way. They could become human hybrid type digimon like us, but they also had beast spirits, too. The human hybrid of earth, Grottomon, was our first encounter of an evil hybrid. He was difficult as it was, but to make matters worse, he had his matching beast spirit. When he became Gigasmon, he was virtually unstoppable. We narrowly escaped with our lives on several instances. In the process, that swine, Grottomon, had stolen my spirit. I could no longer become Fairymon. I could not defend myself, or anyone else for that matter. I was helpless and useless - something I'm not used to. I hated every moment of it.

Junpei promised me that he would return my spirit. Outwardly, I was cynical. I had more confidence in Junpei since we began this adventure, but it was not substantial enough for me to be optimistic about the situation. However, inwardly I was touched by his sweet determination, but I was too proud to tell him how I felt. I think I've been rather rude with him ever since we met. I must remember to apologize for my behaviour some day.

Later on Takuya and Kouji found their beast spirits, and the tables started turning. Soon after, we found one of the angel sovereigns, Seraphimon. This meeting was short-lived, as Grottomon, followed by three other human hybrids infiltrated the angel's inner sanctum. To our dismay, the weakened angel fell to the the combined might of Grottomon, Arbormon, Ranamon, and Mercuremon. As they swallowed his Digicode, I ran to save his Digitama. Seraphimon's assistant, Socerymon, sacrificed himself in ensuring our escape. It was a dark day indeed.

We soon found ourselves in a cavern where a Whamon had emerged from an underwater channel. He was in a maddened state at the time and nearly hit Tomoki full force with a surging pillar of water, but Junpei took the bulk of the blast. How noble of him. Takuya and Kouji spirit evolved into Agnimon and Wolfmon respectively, and calmed Whamon down. He apologized for his upstart. However, we would not be safe for long. Grottomon and Arbormon made a forceful entrance into the cavern. Grottomon had previously been stripped of his beast hybrid in a previous encounter, but he was still dangerous. He produced a vial in which he created a horde of Golemon. Agnimon and Wolfmon started destroying the fake Golemon, but Arbormon pulled them away. The evil hybrid them slide evolved into his beast form, Petaldramon. Tomoki and Junpei came to my rescue there by spirit evolving into Chakmon and Blitzmon, respectively. I was worried about Junpei. He was still hurt badly from Whamon's attack. Blitzmon and Chakmon eliminated the remaining Golemon. Soon enough, only Grottomon and one giant Golemon were left standing. The boys were in a weakened state, and we still had Grottomon and Petaldramon to face. Blitzmon went in for the attack, but was overpowered. He quickly was reverted back to an injured Junpei. Things were looking grim.

It was at that point that Whamon coughed up a shining object, that he said he engulfed earlier on. Upon closer inspection, it was the beast spirit of thunder. Grottomon frantically dashed towards the shining spirit. With his strength failing him, Junpei raised his D-Scanner and captured the spirit just before Grottomon pounced on it. Junpei staggered to his feet.

"Spirit Evolution!" He yelled.

He was enveloped in Digicode as he braced himself for the beast spirit association. The data collaborated and encased him in his new form - a giant tank in the shape of a beetle. The evolution was complete.

"Bolgmon!"

As I suspected, Junpei could not initially handle the feral nature of the beast spirit. He raised his hand cannons and let loose his thunderous rage.

"Ultimate Thunder!"

Large energy blasts were fired every which way. Bokomon, Neemon, Chakmon and myself went for cover. Bolgmon fired once again in Petaldramon's direction. Agnimon and Wolfmon withdrew as an avalanche of rubble engulfed the evil beast hybrid. Bolgmon then set his sights on Grottomon. Bolgmon lowered his body as he prepared his primary attack. All Grottomon could do was scream as he was blown to smithereens by Bolgmon's gargantuan blast. Grottomon's data was then set loose from his body, revealing both his human spirit of earth and my human spirit of wind. Bolgmon slide evolved into Blitzmon and absorbed Grottomon's data and spirit with his Digivice. The Digitama that once was the enemy flew away for reformatting. My spirit faithfully returned to me, and I happily held my D-Scanner out to accept it back. I looked back at Blitzmon, who then returned to Junpei. Tired, Junpei collapsed on the ground.

I rushed to his side to see if he was fine. He assured me that he was. I let go of my pride and sincerely thanked him for returning my spirit to me. He gave me another of his nervous smiles, which in turn made me smile. The cavern began to collapse, so Whamon came to our aid. We were finally safe...for now.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

He may not be the typical hero, but I think that is what's drawing me closer to him. He fulfilled his promise, and he did it all for me. Could I ask for any better hero? I wouldn't think so. It would appear that my previous assumptions were correct. I am in love. I am in love with someone who cares about me and my safety. I am in love with someone who would risk their own life for my sake. I am in love with Shibayama Junpei, my brave warrior of thunder.

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END

Curious...I got this story done pretty quickly. Anyway, review and share your thoughts. Cracker rules!


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